This invention concerns a heat shrinkable plastic jacket for surrounding a cable, wire harness or the like. A heat shrinkable tube is commonly a rubber or plastic tube which shrinks in all dimensions when exposed to heat. Such tubes are used to protect or fix electric wires or cables inserted within the tube. The tube generally has a seamless tubular shape. The tubes are made of material such polyolefin, Teflon or polyvinyl chloride (PVC) When an electric wire or cable is inserted into the tube and heat is applied, the tube constricts, causing the inner surface of the tube to tightly engage the outside surface of the electric wires within in order to protect and fix them.
A problem with heat shrinkable tubes is that they are difficult to use in connection with extremely long cables or wires. In trying to slide the tube over the cable or wires, the wires can become bunched or difficult to feed to the opposite end of the tube. In addition, feeding the wires or cables through the tube can be a time consuming or complex operation. Consequently a need exists for a newly designed heat shrinkable tube which can be easily installed.
The present invention is directed to a heat shrinkable plastic jacket for surrounding a cable, wire harness, etc. It is made of heat shrinkable polyolefin (either a homopolymer or copolymer), polyvinyl chloride (which may be plasticized or not), polyvinylidene fluoride fluoropolymer (Kynar) or fluroroelastomer (Viton) tubing which can be placed oversize over a cable and then when heated it shrinks to tightly encompass the cable. Such heat shrinkable materials may be shrunk at temperatures ranging from about 90xc2x0 C. to 200xc2x0 C. and are capable of withstanding such temperatures during long term usage.
This invention does not, however, need to have the shrinkable jacket slid lengthwise over the cable. It has a longitudinal slit so that it can be opened and wrapped around the cable and then shrunk to encompass the cable. Such a material may also be used on pipes or over electrical connectors. Furthermore, conductive electromagnetic shielding fabric may be used inside the shielding to avoid electromagnetic interference.